Not allowing the dust to settle on the mismanagement of the Centre's flagship employment guarantee scheme in Uttar Pradesh, Sanjay Dixit, member of the Central Employment Guarantee Council, on Sunday, alleged UP has violated the norms of the scheme. In a letter to Union minister for rural development, Jairam Ramesh, Dixit has drawn attention to an MIS report generated by UP, which indicates details of expenditure on works where there...

-IANS   Concerned over the poor 11 percent fund utilisation of the Rahul Gandhi-driven Bundelkhand package worth Rs.7,000 crore, the central government will review its performance Monday.   Following Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's intervention, the central government had sanctioned Rs.7,000 crore package two years ago for development of the backward Bundelkhand region, spread across Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.   Even as politics hots up in the run up to the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections...

-The Times of India   Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday said farmer welfare topped the government's list of priorities and that agriculture would undoubtedly be given maximum impetus. Talking to officials about his government's newest initiatives on the eve of the state-level bankers' committee meeting at his camp office, the CM urged them to ensure that all welfare measures for farmers are implemented in a transparent manner. He made it...

Following a move by the Central Government to further amalgamate regional rural banks (RRBs) in the country, employee unions are demanding the formation of a National Rural Bank of India (NRBI), by amalgamating all RRBs and de-linking of RRBs from the sponsor banks. Ministry view In a letter dated November 28 to the chairmen of sponsor banks of RRBs, the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, said that currently there are...

-The Business Standard   Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee explained the government’s helplessness over inflation in the Rajya Sabha with great eloquence on Thursday. Much of what he said may have solid economic fundamentals, but the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government cannot claim helplessness forever — not when the signs of the cracks it is creating in India’s rural prosperity are becoming so obvious. If any one thing that has protected the Indian...